AVE MARIA, Fla.—Southeastern turned a two-run deficit into a two-run victory in its first game against Ave Maria Friday afternoon in its third Sun Conference series of the year.
The top-ranked Fire scored six runs over the last four innings to come away with a 10-8 win over the Gyrenes to improve to 34-1 on the year and 7-0 in conference play.
Pablo Lanzarote drove in the first two runs of the game in the first inning, but Ave Maria (24-8, 8-2 SUN) came back with a pair of RBI doubles and an RBI triple in the second to lead 3-2.
The first of
Stephen Cullen's three hits of the day came in the fourth with an RBI single down the third base line to tie the game and a sacrifice fly by
Isaac Nunez in the fifth gave the Fire the lead back at 4-3.
Again, the Gyrenes answered in the fifth with a two-run double in the fifth followed by an RBI groundout to give the hosts a 6-4 advantage.
Southeastern then took advantage of a wild pitch which scored Cullen in the sixth and a sacrifice fly by Cullen in the seventh tied the game.
Jose Marcano put the Fire back on top with an RBI single to bring home
Gary Lora.
The Fire picked up some key insurance runs in the ninth with a pair of bases-loaded walks, and a bases-loaded wild pitch.
Down to their last out, the Gyrenes had a runner on first and came up with an RBI double and an RBI single before a
David Mata strikeout ended the game for his first save of the season.
Mata allowed two earned on four hits over three innings of work in relief of
Darien Smith, who moved to 8-1 on the year after going six inning and allowing six earned on 11 hits.
At the plate, Lora added two hits and two runs scored.
Chayce Bryant and Marcano each had two hits with Marcano scoring a run. Cullen, Lanzarote, and Nunez finished two RBIs each.
The two teams will play a doubleheader on Saturday at noon.
